Highland County’s Imagination Library program and hopes for local support were discussed at the weekly Wednesday meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Annie Droege, the western Ohio regional director for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, was in attendance at the meeting to talk about the program which mails children one book per month until their fifth birthday for no cost.

She said that in 2020, all 88 counties in Ohio had a “local program partner,” with Highland County’s being the Ohio Electric Co-op. She also said this partner is supposed to champion, bring awareness, help with enrollment and fundraise for the program. That partner is also responsible for 50 percent of the funds paying for the program, with the state on the hook for the other 50 percent.

However, Droege said at the end of 2021 that the Ohio Electric Co-op pulled out of being the local partner and she is currently looking for another one to take on the program. She said the county’s monthly cost is just over $1,800, as a total of 1,660 children are currently enrolled in the program. She also said that is 62 percent of eligible children in the county, which is above the state average of 59 percent.

Droege said there is an anonymous donor at the state level that helps pay for the counties that currently don’t have a local partner, but she also said someone at the local level helping makes that level of engagement “different.”

She said the partner doesn’t necessarily need to be one person or entity, saying it could be a group of people, sectors, schools, libraries, government or non-profits.

“Perhaps if somebody grabs a hold of this and takes it, maybe they could form, pull together a coalition of small donors that might end up meeting the needs that you’ve got out there, that rather than one large but every, you know, everybody kick in a little bit, you might find that might happen as well,” commissioner Dave Daniels said.

In other news, Daniels said the board of commissioners got correspondence back regarding the situation around solar companies not yet having paid the county.

Alex Butler, Highland County auditor, said the county learned that it would be able to collect when the state issues a certificate of verification to the facility, which hasn’t yet been issued. He said the owner of the facility has 90 days to do that from when the facility becomes operational and has yet to do so.

Daniels said the county reached out to state offices multiple times to try and solve several questions, such as what the definition of a completed facility meant and when the certificate of completion should be received.

The board of commissioners approved a letter of support to Ohio SE for an EDA grant application.

The board of commissioners also approved four authorizations to execute, those being updates to the commissioner employee teleworking policies, Ohio Deferred Compensation for a Roth 457 employer adoption option, a contractor application for payment two from Doll-Layman for the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project and Highland County Justice Center HVAC Controls by AMERESCO.

The commissioners announced that the meeting planned for Wednesday, Oct. 25 has been moved to Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 9 a.m.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.